


in this new colorful world

by perhapssoon



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Family Dynamics, Hurt/Comfort, It’s the rainbow bc he’s gay as heck ok, Multi, Some angst, hced that blood is red and thats all the color in 1933, kinda deteriorates as it continues but that’s alright, loosely follows the plot of the movie but hm, noir needs a hug ok
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-08
Updated: 2019-04-04
Packaged: 2019-10-06 20:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17352467
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perhapssoon/pseuds/perhapssoon
Summary: Noir lands in the wrong Manhattan. So it's natural he's confused. But it's not the technology that captures his eye. It's the color.





	1. red

**Author's Note:**

> lots of people have been writing fics about this stuff but i wanted to give it my own spin. any correlation to any other existing fic is entirely coincidental.

He lands, rather ungracefully, in Manhattan. At least, he  _thinks_  it’s Manhattan. He’s too busy digging himself out of what seems like some huge wall – screen? – in order to concentrate on his surroundings. His chest is throbbing, his face feeling like a sledgehammer just made its brief course into his nose, but a brief mental inspection tells him there’s no serious damage, other than his cracked glasses. He finishes picking himself out of this large screen and immediately falls.

Shit.

He briefly forgets that he can spin webs, and the moment’s forgetfulness is all he needs to plummet several feet onto a metal catwalk, the plates creaking ominously under his sudden weight. Pain shoots up his back, and he hisses as he struggles to his feet. Something jolts through him and he suddenly feels like he’s being torn apart at the seams. It’s enough to send him to his knees, and when the pain finally clears, he manages to stand properly this time, hauling himself up by the metal railing nearby. And it’s then that he can finally look around.

This is new.  _Very_ new.

It’s Manhattan, that he is sure of, but there’s something off about it, something more  _vibrant_ , and  _colorful_. The streets are still black and white, but the things traveling on top of them – he pauses and leans over the railing to squint at the city below. Are those  _cars_? They have four wheels, yet these vehicles below him possess designs even more sleek than those futuristic commercials suggested. The people walking along the streets are wearing clothes of colors he doesn’t even know the names of. He spots black quite a few times, as well as white, and a few shades of grey, but everything else is foreign to him. Until it happens. His breath stops in his chest as he sees a man pass below him, wearing a color he knows very well.

Red.

He’s seen red too much in his life. Stained over the cracked concrete, seeping into his clothes, coating his hands in sticky, disgustingly warm liquid.

He remembers the first time he killed a man with his bare hands. His guns had been knocked out of his grip and he watched them skitter away into the darkness of the alley. A boot came down hard on his chest, pressing down harder than he would like, the buttons on his jacket pressing into his ribcage. “So this is how the famous Spiderman dies,” a voice sneered, and Noir can’t remember who this guy is. A guy who worked under Norman, maybe.

“Don’t count on it,” his own voice growled in response, and he grabbed the offending boot, hauling it forward, causing the owner to stagger, and Noir used that chance to stand, launching himself at the man, hands scrabbling in his coat for something, anything to use. Wishing that he hadn’t left his backups at home, his fingers closed around a long and thin handle, the feeling wooden beneath his numb fingers. A sudden wave of anger washed over him and he lashed out, stabbing the man’s chest with a flash of silver. The man gasped in pain, and grunted.

He wasn’t dead, yet.

Noir stabbed again. And again. And again. Not until the man’s blood ran into the cracks in the pavement, leaving trails of faded red behind, a metallic scent floating through the air, does Noir stop, his rage-filled trance ended. He sat back, chest heaving, staring at his hands in disbelief. They’re red, the viscous liquid slithering down his wrists, into the sleeves of his coat. His first reaction was to wipe it off in disgust and horror, and curling his hands into fists to hide the remnants, he hurried away, heart in his throat.

The man’s eyes, full of accusation and horror, burned into his memory, right next to the image of his uncle dying. He gritted his teeth and forged on, shoes tapping again the sidewalk as he shoved his hands deep into his pockets.

He’s a murderer. The man had no need to be killed.

It’s like the realization comes crashing down and Noir realized right then and there that he needed to stop. He needed to cut his emotions off. All of them. It was the only way he could stop feeling like this.

He found gloves in the back of his home three weeks later, and he put them on, resorting to wear them for the rest of his life. All the better to hide the hands of a murderer.

Noir jerks back to reality, eyes still on the man passing beneath him, wearing a bright red jacket that stands out in the crowd. This isn’t New York. Or rather, this isn’t  _his_  New York. Everything is too colorful here, and even if he can’t identify  _which_  colors, it definitely isn’t greyscale.

Still, he’s amazed at it all. The span of technology reaching even farther than the TVs in his Manhattan, how far the place has come in this apparent future. He releases a strand of webbing and uses it to swing down into the street below, landing directly in the center of an intersection.

A few things happen at once: his spider sense goes off, telling him to get out of the way. So he does, right as a car careens below him, running into a car turning the corner. Noir manages to spare some web fluid and latches onto the car, pulling just enough for the car to stop, just inches from collision. Apparently the other drivers aren’t really that experienced because one, thrown off by the accident, spins the wheel a bit too far and slams into the traffic light pole. It tilts, wobbles, and falls, Noir barely avoiding it as it crashes along the very spot he was just standing in. It’s then that someone decides to look up.

“Hey look, isn’t that Spiderman?” There’s a young female beneath him, dressed in what looks like off-red, barely paying attention to the accident. She’s pointing at him. And to Noir’s complete confusion, she draws a crowd. People usually ran away from him, because whenever he was there, violence and death followed.

“But why does he look weird?”

“He’s black and white!”

“Where did that outfit come from?”

He’s never really had to deal with crowds, partially because they never showed up for him while he was in the middle of something. Sure, he was a sight for sore eyes when he came to save someone, but it wasn’t like this. Never like this. Everyone had strange boxes that they held up to him, like microphones. They all looked eager, like he was going to start singing and dancing at any moment. One man held the strange box higher than the rest, looking eager.

“Spiderman, we thought you were dead! What happened?”

They wait, on the edge of their metaphorical seats, waiting for an answer he can provide them.

Except he has nothing to say.

He only can glance down at them, sure that if they knew who he was, or at least the name he went by, he wasn’t the  _only_  Spiderman here. His gaze drifted to the traffic light, stuck on red.

“Do you know what that color is?” His mother had asked him one evening, pointing to her palm. Peter had accidentally pricked his mother’s finger with a needle he had retrieved for her from the crack in the floorboard, but she had only smiled and sat him down, showing him her bloody palm. “This is the color red. It is the only true color on Earth. It comes from pain and suffering, showing the love inside us is what drives us to feel that way.” She pressed the needle into Peter’s own hand. “Remember this. I do not want you to forget the only color in this world.”

And he hadn’t. Becoming Spiderman only meant seeing more red, more color than he ever wanted to see when he was young. But beneath all that, he remembered his mom from the pools of blood collecting in divots in the streets, smiling at him. Maybe she didn’t know that he was going to grow up to be a killer, but he realized that she somehow knew that all along he would see red for the rest of his life.

“Hey, uh, Spiderman? You good?”

The voice snaps him out of his thoughts, and instead of responding, he does what he does best. He leaves.

Alleyways are places people ignore, even in this city, he notices, and he takes the initiative to land in one, ripping off his mask and stowing it in his pocket. He doesn’t need any more attention today. 

He glances upwards towards one of those large screens that dot the buildings above, he can see that there’s a picture a man’s face that looks so similar to him, it’s creepy. His eyes flick to the words scrolling across this strange screen and the only one he can make out is the word “dead”. The image next to the man’s face was, essentially, Noir’s own mask. Yet this one was different.

So there  _was_  another Spiderman here. And that one is dead. No wonder the people crowded around him. But the man’s frozen eyes seem follow him as he leaves the alleyway, and he can feel the scorching heat of the stares around him as he walks away.

–

The outfit is red, he realizes later. Red, in this strange Manhattan where nothing is the same, like the blood running through everyone’s veins. It was like someone took the mask and dunked it in a pool of blood then hung it out to dry.

The thought disturbs him and he pushes it away.


	2. orange

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Running into Peni Parker could maybe be the best thing that has ever happened to him. Noir just doesn't realize it at the moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And chapter two!! It took me a while to find something orange because I wrote this at 6am but anyway! I finally did it. Enjoy!

"Hey, uh, excuse me?"

He turns, fully expecting some random passerby to comment on his clothing or his strange appearance or whatever, but he's surprised to see some kind of machine thing standing in front of him He has to look up to meet what he assumes are its eyes.

"Are you lost?"

The middle of the machine spirals open and a girl drops out, but she doesn't look like the people here. Hell, she doesn't even look like  _him_. It was like someone took a pen and outlined her whole body and then colored it in with these strange colors. Her eyes are larger than normal and he stares at them, trying to discern if she's an enemy or not. 

"Who're you?"

She grins widely. "My name is Peni Parker. I'm from the year 3145 and--"

"Wait." 

She stops talking immediately, eyes studying him intently, waiting for a response. Noir hesitates before responding, mind whirling.

"3145? It's 1933 where I'm from." He pauses. "Wait what year is it then?"

She stares some more before giggling. "This is 2018. Welcome to the technical 'future'."

"2018?" No wonder it looked so -- colorful. Noir pauses before asking carefully, "So what's going on? Why are we--"

"--from different times?" Peni finishes. "Well, this is probably an alternate universe, so that explains a lot. And has anyone come up to you knowing who you are?"

"You mean my name? Peter Parker?"

"No," Peni shakes her head, black hair bouncing slightly. "I mean Spiderman."

He hesitates. He doesn't know how much to trust this kid, and while she seems harmless and just out of place as he is, her strange machine thing is still behind her. He notices that the machine's 'eyes' are red. He blanches.

"I, uh,"

Peni seems to take it as a yes. "Great!" She claps her hands excitedly and the machine follows her movements. Noir takes an involuntary step back.

She notices his tension and looks back to the machine thing. "Oh, I totally forgot to tell you. This is Sp//dr! It was my father's mech before he died. I pilot one half and the other is piloted by my spider!"

He blinks. "You got bitten by a spider too?"

"Yeah!" She hops on top of the 'mech' and hugs it. "We're BFFs!"

"BFF?" he repeats, confused.

"Best friends forever," she explains, "but that's not the point. We gotta find the Spiderman of this universe. Maybe he knows what's going on."

"He's dead." His voice sounds flat, and Noir internally winces at the sudden look of horror that flashes across the girl's face. 

"What?" Peni seems frozen, Sp//dr's expression flickering to one of shock. "He's  _dead_?"

"Yeah," He shoves his hands into his pockets, feeling a bit claustrophobic for some reason. They're in open area, the sky stretching into strange colors as the sun is rising, yet he feels like he's drowning.

Peni nods solemnly, as if she can see what he's thinking. "Well, I guess then we find Aunt May." She pauses, glances at him to see his reaction, and then hops into her mech. "Follow me!"

Sp//dr releases a strand of webbing and swings away, Noir hesitating before he follows her.

"So you're saying that this place is an alternate dimension?" The words taste weird in his mouth and he isn't sure if he likes the feel of them.

"Yup!" Peni pops some kind of strange food into her mouth, chewing as she speaks. "You're from '33, which explains your whole black and white thing, huh?"

"Um, yes?" The word comes out as a question, because honestly, he isn't sure about this.  _Any_  of this.

"Cool." Sp//dr swings so they're going backwards, and Peni makes eye contact with Noir, looking somewhat serious. "So the color thing is new for you."

He doesn't say anything at first. She may know he's Peter Parker, she may know he's from a universe of horror and violence, but the color thing? For some reason he doesn't want to talk about it, but her expression encourages him to open up.

"..Yes," he says reluctantly, and Peni looks like she can  _see_  into him, read the emotion there, even though he's trained himself to show nothing, to show no feeling.

"How about we sit here?" Peni gestures with Sp//dr's left arm, pointing to a nearby rooftop. 

It's all so sudden, he finds himself agreeing, and without another word, they make their way over to the place, Sp//dr whirring as Peni climbs out again. "You know, the best way to find color is here," she says, sitting on the edge of the rooftop, pointing to the bustling city below. "Especially when the sun is rising, 'cause it's  _so_  pretty."

He follows her gaze to the horizon, the sun peeking over the hills, a strange color engulfing it. It looks red, at first glance, but when he stares a bit longer, the sky lightens somewhat to make some new color. He blanches. "What-what color is that?"

"Orange," Peni says simply, swinging her feet. "It's orange."

He nods, sitting next to her. "Orange," he repeats, testing the word out himself. He finds that he likes it.

"Must be weird," Peni says, eyes still on the sunrise, "that you know black and white your whole life and suddenly you come here."

"I know one color," Noir replies and Peni shifts to look at him, a surprised expression flitting across her face.

"Really? Which color?" She looks so eager, Noir almost regrets telling her anything. She's too young to be burdened with loss, violence, murder, everything he deals with in his daily life.

"Red," he says finally, avoiding her gaze. "And it only appears from blood."

She can sense the implication by the way she tenses beside him. "So you saw a lot of red?"

There's no reason to lie. Her voice is accepting and serious, almost like she knows exactly what he has gone through. "Yeah." He pauses. "You're lucky. Still young, still able to live a good life."

She nods. "You know," she says, after a moment, "I lost my father while he was piloting this exact same mech." She pats Sp//dr, who's next to her, and the machine rumbles slightly. "So I had to take his place."

Her voice wavers slightly, and Noir can see she's on the verge of tears, very different from the short time he's known her. His heart expands slightly, and he almost reaches out to comfort her, but he pushes it back. He doesn't need his feelings getting in the way of anything. He doesn't need to ruin anyone else's lives because of his emotions.

Peni hugs herself, rocking back and forth before standing. "You lost someone too, right?"

He's tempted to ask her what made her think that, but she's already proven to know a lot more than him so he answers honestly. "I did. My Uncle Benjamin. He died--"

He trails off, unsure on whether to continue. This girl held tragedy in her life, like him, but unlike him, she hadn't witnessed the things he's seen. "--a long time ago."

The unspoken hangs in the air between them:  _"I couldn't save him."_

"Anyway!" Peni lets her arms drop back to her sides, gesturing to the sky. "It's pretty right?"

The sky  _is_  rather beautiful to look at, The color makes it better. Orange is a color he decides he really likes, and with a glance over at Peni, who's grinning widely at him, he realizes color is better when there's someone to share it with. Orange means family. 

"You ready to find her?" Peni breaks his thoughts by leaning down to him, practically hugging his shoulder.

He nods, distracted, eyes still fixed on the horizon, drinking in the color like it's the last thing anchoring him to this universe. The sky is already lightening, the orange fading. He stands and nods to her. 

"Yeah, let's go."

And as they swing over New York, the blurs beneath him have one more name than before. Red. Orange.

The colors stay with him all the way to Aunt May's house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really loved the father-daughter dynamic in the movie, even if it was only touched upon. Kudos are appreciated, comments even more!! Hope you all have a good day! <3


	3. yellow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet Peter Porker. Noir contemplates life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoo boy this took a while for me to write. But I personally think it was worth it. What do you guys think?

As it turns out, Peni likes to take initiative in teaching him color. She can apparently tell that color makes things ten times better than it was in black and white and so when they arrive at Aunt May's house, she nudges him with Sp//dr (and throws him off-balance a bit as well while doing so) and whispers, "That's yellow."

Yellow. Another color to learn. It radiates a warmth that he hasn't felt in years, stronger than even orange. 

Before he knows what he's doing, he's walking right up to the door and knocking. There's a button next to the doorknob, and he's busy inspecting it right as the door opens.

"Sorry, I'm not expecting any more--"

He looks up at the vaguely familiar voice and takes a step back. Staring at him in shock is Aunt May. She looks almost exactly like his own Aunt May, except her appearance less ragged and her eyes less haunted. And the color. The color here is faded slightly, but it's still there.

"Peter?"

He completely forgets that he doesn't have his mask on, but a glance to the left shows that even if he was wearing it, she would've recognized him anyway. It was like a shrine was built to honor the dead Spiderman. It was red. All red.

His gaze slides back to meet hers, and he's vaguely aware of Sp//dr whirring behind him as Peni comes out of the cockpit again.

His mouth opens and shuts again, a strange feeling rising inside of him. Shock, maybe? His voice is somewhat scratchy and he winces as he speaks. "Aunt May."

It feels wrong to call this person Aunt May. There was only one person in his life who he called his 'aunt' and she's gone. But the shocked look on her face and the aura of don't-mess-with-me only Aunt May would be able to pull off is what pulls him in. He can feel warmth pressing into his leg and he glances down to see Peni, who's smiling up at him.

"You look..." her voice trails off and she steps closer, Noir's chest involuntarily tightening. "...alone. And lost. Though you have this lovely girl right here," she pauses to wink at Peni, though her eyes hold barely an indication of a smile.

Peni bounces on the balls of her feet, looking anxious. "Aunt May, we--"

"Came from another dimension?" Aunt May finishes with a smile, her eyes finally giving way to light. "So I've heard."

Peni grins. "How do you know? We just got here."

Aunt May nods, pretending to think. Noir can see the mischievous glint in her eyes; he's seen it plenty of time with his own aunt. "Hm, I believe you did. Darn, I was hoping," she trails off, waiting for Peni to react.

And the young girl takes the bait. "Hoping what?"

"Hoping you would know this guy." Aunt May steps aside and Noir blinks in surprise because standing behind her is a pig. A pig dressed in one of those Spiderman outfits, yet this one seems to fit him perfectly.

"Hey," the pig offers, sticking out a hand, and Peni squeals. 

"Oh you can talk!" She bounds over to the pig, shaking his hand so furiously, Noir winces in sympathy. "I'm Peni Parker, he's Peter Parker, what's your name?"

The pig snorts and carefully detaches his arm from Peni's grip, before offering his hand to Noir. "Peter Porker, but you can call me Spiderham."

Noir hesitantly shakes Ham’s hand, surprised to find the pig’s grip to be stronger than he expected. “So you’re from another thingamabob too?”

“If you mean an alternate universe, I hope so,” Ham grimaces, “otherwise this is another pleasant dream I’ll have the notion to wake up from sooner or later.”

Noir just shakes his head, bewildered. He can’t believe it either, he realizes, as he follows Aunt May into her house. Talking pigs, spider mech-doohickeys, a strangely created young girl, and a relative who isn’t even alive in his universe. And colors. So many colors. 

They cross the threshold, and he’s greeted with more yellow. Just looking at it allows a wave of happiness to wash over him. 

He hasn’t felt this way in years. 

His attention is drawn back to the other occupants in the room. Ham is drinking a cup of tea — chugging it more like — and Peni is grinning widely and chatting with Aunt May, recounting her adventures in this new universe. 

“It’s so amazing,” Peni rambles on, eyes bright. “This place is super cool. And not clouded with smog. Which is way healthier and better than my universe even though this place is super out of style.”

She says it all so fast, Noir has trouble keeping up, but Aunt May just smiles and nods. “I imagine it is.”

Peni glances over at Noir, who’s lingering at the edge of the couch and seems to recognize he wants to say something. “Hey uh, Aunt May? I kinda gotta go...” She jerks a thumb over her shoulder and Aunt May understands. 

“The bathroom is to the left,” she says and Peni bounds off. 

So it’s just Ham, Aunt May, and Noir left in the living room. Ham clearly shows no sign of stopping his tea rampage so Noir turns towards Aunt May. 

“Uh, Ms—”

She shakes her head at him and he stops talking. There’s something about her that allows her to stay silent yet command every person in the room. “It’s Aunt May, Peter. There is no need for formality.”

Noir blanches but tried again. “Aunt May. I am very sorry for your loss.”

Of course, he’s only saying the proper words as to what he deems as polite. There’s a strange mixture of regret and sorrow, however, resting in the pit of his stomach so he concentrates on the yellow walls to calm down. 

Aunt May smiles sadly. “My nephew was a good person. And it makes his death sadder when you think of the possibilities of his future. But that isn’t something I like to dwell on. He has saved New York plenty of times. He has lived what he wanted to. He wouldn’t want me to feel lost without him.  So I look in the moment and to the future. And since three alternate Spider-People are now at my home, I don’t need any more convincing that everything is going to be alright.”

Noir hesitates. He doesn’t know what to say. His emotions are cut off from the rest of his brain, and this is the first time he wishes he could actually feel emotion. 

1933 isn’t forgiving. It has taken so much from him in such a short span of time and he learned that it is better to shove his personal issues deep down and focus on saving the citizens. The people first, him second. And that’s how it always went. But sitting here, talking to a different version of Aunt May, in a yellow house that made him feel some version of happiness, he wants it all back. 

He wants to  _feel_  again. He wants to experience true  _emotion_. 

It takes him a moment to realize that Aunt May is waiting for a response.

He doesn’t offer one. He just resorts to sit there, watching the yellow wall. He traces the pattern with his eyes, following the slight indentures, and he imprints it into his brain. 

Only when Peni comes back from the bathroom and sits so close to him he can feel the warmth radiating off of her, that he finally understands yellow. 

Yellow means home. 

And looking away from the wall, Noir is struck with another startling realization. He can’t see his uncle’s mutilated body anymore. Nor can he see the eyes of the first man he’s ever killed with his bare hands. Instead, the yellow pattern of Aunt May’s walls blind him, filling him with something much more sustainable than bitter anger, sadness, and guilt. 

It’s happiness. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!! Thanks to everyone who did so already! You’ve helped me a ton with motivation for this fic.


	4. black and white

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Noir goes back to his own world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We need some angst here. That, and a quick time skip.

It was a mistake to think that this strange new feeling would last long. Peni had decided to list every single color she could think of, writing them all down for him in rushed handwriting. He took the list, but without any examples of each color, he was left in the dark. After the three of them got settled in what Aunt May deemed the "Spider-Lair", three more Spider-People appeared: Miles Morales, Gwen Stacy, and Peter B. Parker.

And Noir was happy with that. He wanted to make sure Miles, being green and obviously not in control of his powers, could defend himself.

Which, proven by him and everyone else, he could not.

So led to the series of events where they all realized that they all have to go home. The 'glitching', as B. called it, is getting worse. Each time it happens, it feels like his body is being pulled apart, scalpels digging into every inch of his body, slicing him into pieces. But as soon as it happens, it's gone, and Noir is left feeling raw, like he just was scraped against a wall.

The Collider is nothing he's ever heard of before. A man-made machine, built to access different realities? It's everything he could've hated, if he were still stuck in his own universe. But meeting Peni, Ham, and even the rest of the Spider Gang, it's changed his mind. Changed it well enough that he  _doesn't_  want to go home.

But he'll die here. He'll die, glitching sporadically and painfully, breaking his body down to minuscule dust. 

And, even as cynical and repressed as he is, he doesn't  _want_  to die. He wants to live, and maybe when he gets back to 1933, he can still survive better, knowing people like Peni are out there.

So it's now, sitting in the rafters, watching the Collider, that Noir has a sudden tug in his gut that he doesn't want to go home. B. already volunteered for the job; to stay behind and close the Collider is something Noir volunteered to do before, partially because it's his duty to sacrifice himself for others, and partially because he doesn't want to leave.

But this isn't a universe where he's welcome in. This is  _Miles'_  universe, and it would already have a Spiderman if B. is going to stay. 

Doc Ock comes out of nowhere, goggles glinting in the supercharged light of the Collider, and in a single movement, slams B. backwards.

And then Fisk's goons arrive. Noir punches one, sending the man flying backwards, and manages to avoid a car flying out of the Collider. Apparently, being near the Collider just makes the glitching worse, because another spastic movement seizes his body and he collapses onto the catwalk, bullets whistling through the air above him. But then Peni is in front of him, Sp//dr deflecting the attacks.

"I got you covered!" she yells above the noise and he smiles at her beneath the mask.

And he fights. He fights despite the glitches, despite the fact that they're outnumbered, despite the fact that objects from other universes are now rising into the room, making it hard to concentrate. He may not want to go home, but protecting his universe and all the others connected to it is a responsibility he needs to bear. The only good thing is that he doesn't have to possess the burden on his own. 

All the colors, the flashes of light, the unusual brightness is distracting to him, but he manages to take out as many goons as he can, catching glimpses of his fellow Spiders as he dodges and ducks around the various vehicles, buildings, and other strange objects he has no name for.

And then he hears Peni scream.

It's like his Spider Sense is honed in on her voice, able to pick it up despite the overwhelming amount of noise in the room. When he finally finds a pathway to her, Ham is already there, going on-on-one with a man with a strange scorpion tail, Sp//dr in pieces behind him. Peni has crawled out of the cockpit, and now is just watching the fight, unable to help.

Ham knocks the scorpion-man to the ground and Noir takes his chance. The tail is the most vulnerable at the moment so he seizes it, swinging that tail -- and the man attached to it -- in a wide circle, releasing it in Peni's direction.

The girl takes one of her robot's broken limbs and swings it like a baseball bat. There's a loud crack heard even through the rumble of the Collider, and the man falls to the ground, out like a light.

With the threat gone, they could go home. None of them want to leave, that much is evident. But he's equipped with more ammo than he needs, and it isn't the gun stored in his coat pocket.

It's that list. The list, and the cube.

And with a final farewell, he drops off the side of the Collider, back into the black and white world he now so despises.

There's no color here, not except for that cube, the one he works tirelessly at to solve. It's his only small amount of happiness here, in a world where positivity is bleached black like tar, seeping into his bones, his brain, his heart. The list Peni gave him still lists the colors, but it had faded slightly upon returning to his world, shaded faintly with gray. He tries to name each color on his cube, red, orange, yellow, white, but the other two he doesn't know. 

He goes back to his detective work, punching Nazis and drinking egg creams as usual, but the charm of it all isn't there anymore. When he closes his eyes, he can see a world of color, feel the sofa cushions of Aunt May's house, hear the buzz and whir of Sp//dr. But when he opens them, he sees only black and white, black and white, black and white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This isn't the end, I swear. Comments and kudos keep me going. <3


	5. green

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peni returns, and along with it, color.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally!!! i vomited words onto a doc and finished this chapter dfjskdf

He's given up on everything. The cube sits in the corner of his apartment, subject to his fidgeting so much that the color is almost completely rubbed off. He resolves to just let it be in his room, still brighter than its surroundings, though obviously less so.

The memories of the colors don't fade, however, and his dreams are still full of Peni's bright laugh, sparks from gunfire bouncing off metal, colorful glitching plaguing his body.

He wonders if he'll ever see any of the Spiders again.

And it's a week later, when he's finishing up his daily outing, when a red-and-strange-color portal appears in front of him.

He has to pinch himself to make sure he isn't dreaming when Peni comes out of it, eyes just as vibrant as he remembered.

"Noir!" She runs over and throws her arms around him, and he stands there for a few seconds, still in shock, as his arms instinctively wrap around her, holding her close.

He doesn't want to let go of her, in case this is a dream. He can't handle everyone he ever loved being taken away again. But she's here, and she's real and smiling that bright smile and laughing happily as she tugs him towards the portal.

"C'mon," she says, that smile still on her face, and Noir allows the her to pull him into the portal, and relishes the color that envelops his body, filling his heart, with all its colorless emptiness, with happiness.

Peni's real, and she's here, with him.

They come out in a world that looks way beyond his years, even more than Miles' world. It's full of flying vehicles and the sky is a strangely gross gray color. Still, Noir doesn't care. 

Peni practically drags him to a field, colored something he doesn't know the name of.

"You know what color this is?" she asks, and Noir hesitates, drawing the list she gave him out of his pocket. She looks delighted that he had kept it, though she holds back her emotions and waits for him to figure it out.

He appreciates the gesture and scans the list quickly. He doesn't know this color in front of him, though he damned well try for her, the one person who has helped him learn so much already. "...Purple?"

She snickers, and he smiles faintly at her amusement. It's been so long.

"No, silly, it's green." She gestures to the whole field, painted a vivid.. green. "Green means life." She pauses before adding, voice quieter, "In this universe, green's really hard to come by, unless it's paint. Shows how far down we've gone from nature."

"Better off than me," Noir says finally. "Black and white ain't easy on the eyes after you've seen all this." He gives the area they're in a wide sweep of his arm, and Peni seems to understand.

"So the trees--?" He doesn't finish his sentence, questions about his friend's sudden arrival and the introduction of a new color whirling through his head.

"Are green," Peni finishes. 

"And the grass, too? Leaves?"

Peni nods, eyes quite literally sparkling. "And eyes too."

He frowns. He doesn't recall anyone's eyes being green. Peni sees his confusion and elaborates. "I mean, no one in the Spider-Gang has green eyes, but we can try to find someone who does!"

And then she's running down the street in Sp//dr, Noir swinging to catch up. He gets some weird stares, but ignores them the best he can. At least it's not those hateful remarks on what a freak he is, generating his own web fluid.

Peni stops Sp//dr on one of the many rooftops in her Brooklyn. The cockpit spirals open and she hops out. "My mech picked up at least three people down there with pure green eyes. Look for a woman dressed in red jeans."

Red. Love. That's a color he can remember. He peers over the edge of the building, trying not to focus on the other nameless colors moving below him. 

"There." He points to a woman who's pushing a shopping cart across the street -- it seems to be hovering in midair -- who's wearing red pants and a black overcoat.

"Awesome!" She holds a fist up and Noir stares, a bit puzzled.

"It's a fist bump," she explains, and Noir hesitantly curls his hand into a fist and knocks it gently against hers.

He didn't know that something as violent and dangerous as a fist could be used as a sign of affection. A familiar warmth spreads through him again, welcome against the tides of black and white in his heart.

\--

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Peni taps the woman in red jeans on the shoulder, the latter whirling in surprise.

"I'm sorry?"

"Can we see your eyes, please?" If Noir didn't know any better, he would assume that asking someone to see their eyes was a common greeting by the casual way Peni passed it as, but the woman looks mildly disturbed.

"I-- okay." She bends down so Peni can stare at her eyes, and the younger girl tugs Noir down too.

"See, her eyes are green," Peni says in his ear, and Noir takes a look for himself. Sure enough, in the irises of her rapidly darting eyes, he can see the same green as the field reflected there.

"You have lovely eyes, ma'am," he says, once he straightens.

"O-oh, thank you," the woman replies nervously, offering a slight grin. "I got them from my father."

Noir nods, lost in though, and a sudden wail from the cart she's pushing catches his attention.

In the front of the cart, swaddled in many blankets and clipped in place by some kind of belt is a baby. His gaze slowly moves back towards the woman, who's comforting her child, and makes connection in his head.

This woman is a mother. A mother who gave birth to this child. A mother who has bright green eyes.

The baby wails again and opens its eyes every so slightly and Noir can see the same shade of green speckled in the child's eyes. The mother picks up the child, gently rocking it back and forth, murmuring soft words to it. It reminds Noir painfully of his own mother.

Peni draws closer to him, taking his hand in both of hers, and both of them slowly back away, unwilling to disturb the mother in calming the baby.

Once they're back on the rooftop, Peni pokes at his glasses in curiosity. "You know your eyes are green, right?"

He blinks, startled. He's been black and white for as long as he can remember. How have his eyes suddenly turned green? Peni's pacing in front of him so quickly that he's dizzy just watching her.

"I made these watches that can portal us to each of our universes so we can see each other more often. I guess it's more reliable than by Collider, but then again, you haven't glitched, have you? That explains the color because you wouldn't really be displaced if we had a safe way of travelling and--"

"Hold on," Noir waves his hands to stop her. "I'm in color now?"

She stop, stares, and then practically beams at him, bouncing up and down in her excitement. "Oh my gosh, you didn't even realize! You're finally in color, how does it feel?"

He hesitates, glancing down at his hands, covered in his usual gloves. They're still black, though the light from the buildings reflecting off of it makes it look all sorts of strange colors. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Here." Peni thrusts a mirror into his hands and he hesitantly raises to look at his face.

He stops short. His eyes are green, even brighter than that woman on the street, more comparable to the child than anything else. His skin is a strange light reddish color, yet not quite, reflected in other shades from the lights around him. "I--"

He's at a loss for words.

Peni now looks a bit cautious, the fact that he might not take it well just now occurring to her. "Hey, now, uhm, it's not that bad, right?"

He wants to tell her things, so many things, but his mouth is avoiding his brain. He wants to tell her that he's wanted to be in color ever since he fell into Miles' universe, ever since he met her, ever since he was sent back to his own dreary universe. He wants to tell her how much she's changed his life by teaching him color, that she's changed his whole viewpoint on living, that she and the rest of the Spider-Gang had given him a reason to keep going.

He finds his voice after struggling for a few minutes, his lips stretching into a full grin. "No, it isn't. It really isn't."

She smiles, too and he laughs, feeling bubbly and light for the first time in his life. But out of all those strange things happening to him, this is one thing he wants to have forever. "Thank you," he says, "for helping me."

He means it.

Peni giggles, her voice clear and high against the smoggy sky.


End file.
